The Sun-Herald

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Bring Back Australian Romance

Last week's win by the USA over Spain has wider implications than just another case of flukey giant killing.

Australian football would do well to take notice.

I knew something was up when my US mobile phone began buzzing after the Yanks improbable victory.

"USA! USA!" read text messages from Brazilian and Bulgarian friends.

An email pinged from a friend in California, more usually inspired by Budweiser beer and the Oakland Raiders and As: "How about THAT?!"

The 2-0 victory, where the USA was initially pitched as whipping boys against European Champions trying to extend a record unbeaten streak, had touched many corners of the country.

"Has all of America got Confederations Cup fever?" emailed football fanatic from Sydney.

Well, no. But in a new American era of "Yes, we can," the win had cut into the American psyche.

"I can't explain it any more than you can," said US goalkeeper Tim Howard, a teammate of Socceroo Tim Cahill, after the match.

There are many parallels between football's development in America and Australia.

Similar histories, similar demographics, similar challenges, and for the administrators, similar goals.

Both countries, too, are now rivals to host the 2018 or 2022 FIFA World Cups, each in their own style.

While the US has called on a statesman like Henry Kissinger or California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to talk up its credentials, Australia's campaign has called on a truck driver, as representative of an everyman Aussie, to invite the world to "Come play".

Like Australia, 16 members of the 23-man US squad in South Africa play abroad in Europe.

Unlike Pim Verbeek, US coach Bob Bradley does believe in players who play in Major League Soccer, the US professional league.

His goalscorers against Spain, Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore, played for Fulham in the Premier League and in Spain's second division last season but the team's engine and pin-up boy is Landon Donovan, a clean-cut, prematurely-balding, local hero who plays for Los Angeles Galaxy.

It was Donovan who relinquished the team's captaincy after the arrival of David Beckham in LA, an experiment that proved celebrity and marquee names are no guarantee of success.

But, when glitz and glamour has run back to Europe, what does capture the US imagination is inspiration.

It's the have-a-go attitude missing in many of Australia's more recent performances.

When was the last time you truly rallied to a Socceroos performance?

Was it 2006? The Japan match? The drama against Croatia in Stuttgart? Italy?

Unknown, unheard of, written of, Australia had something to prove in Germany and we sort of proved it.

Historically, Australian football has inspired when we've stood no chance - against Argentina in 1988 when Frank Arok's team of mongrels pulled style from out of the back of the closet to beat then World Champions Argentina 4-1.

Not to bore you with too much nostalgia but the US win has caught the imagination because of its unlikely romance, something that Australian football might like to consider rekindling.

Oh, and another thing. It's a win that will have Champagne corks popping at the US Soccer Federation in Chicago for another reason.

The United States may lose the 2018 World Cup bid to Europe but beating the best team on that continent in a FIFA tournament will do a lot for their 2022 bid's credibility.

Australia - take notice.

• by Matthew Hall at 06:03 AM
• Comments (3)

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Tim Cahill's "Drunken" Dramas

And on the seventh day, we finally got some truth.

A full week after Tim Cahill had a few drinks (this much is not in dispute) and was thrown out of/walked out of a Kings Cross bar, we hear someone of reasonable authority speak on the record about the incident.

With all the power and connections the broad Sydney media has, it took FourFourTwo, a football-dedicated magazine with limited resources, to scoop News Limited, Fairfax Media, Fox Sports, SBS, Channel Seven, the online bloggerati, Football Federation Australia, and the Internet gossipers to unearth what seems to be a reliable source to speak about what went down during Timmygate.

In brief: "Tim's welcome anytime," claimed a guy called Mim Salvato, the owner of the bar where Cahill's shenanigans took place (or not).

"They've blown it out of all proportion," Salvato said in an interview published on FourFourTwo's website. "I don't know what they are going on about. I don't want Tim to look like a bad guy. It was just a simple misunderstanding."

[Full disclosure - I have written for the British edition of the magazine but rarely for the Australian - the last time may have been in 2006.]

Salvato said Cahill had also been at the bar on the night before the alleged incident - after Australia had qualified - without any problems.

"If you look even slightly intoxicated, we are not allowed to serve you," explained Salvato. "Tim didn't understand this because he lives in England where you can drink as much as you like.

"The doorman got his knickers in a knot. We don't employ the doormen directly. We use a security company and no-one knew who he was.

"It was a nothing incident that should never have happened. Tim was just partying and then left. No punches were thrown and nothing else happened. There was no 'disgrace' or 'shame'."

"Police only became involved after the media phoned them. They came down, looked at the CCTV video, saw there was nothing to investigate and that was it.

"The Telegraph got it way out of line and I don't understand why they have been doing this."

In a week that should have been about Australia's bid for the 2018/2022 World Cup and qualification for next year's tournament in South Africa, The Daily Telegraph (and Sunday) certainly succeeded in diverting attention to its beat up.

The issue gained traction with Cahill's embarrassing interview after scoring two goals against Japan with host broadcaster Fox Sports after the final whistle.

The Everton midfielder's knowledge of cross-media ownership (News Ltd owns a share of Fox Sports through the Premier Sports Group that owns the broadcaster) meaning Cahill now appears disinterested in talking with the FFA broadcast "partner".

It's a jungle out there - as Cahill has discovered over the past few days.

The saga is further complicated by News Ltd's financial interest in rugby league, a sport riddled at the professional level with so much controversy it should hold its own World Cup just for poor behaviour.

Australia would be clear favourites but, on his worst night out, Cahill would struggle to qualify for that tournament.

Thankfully, Pim Verbeek came to the rescue. Here he is singing Advance Australia Fair, keeping his promise to do so if the Socceroos qualified for South Africa.

As Pim suggests, Australians, all let us re-juice.

UPDATE: David Sygall at The Sun-Herald has spoken with Salvato, telling a slightly different version of the story. Salvato, it has been suggested to me, has an interest in staying onside with Cahill rather than a doorman, who is now being discredited. Sigh.

You can follow me on Twitter here.

• by Matthew Hall at 10:35 AM
• Comments (7)

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Cristiano Ronaldo's Unreal Madrid

It's official: the world has gone mad.

Amid economic doom and gloom, giants of industry declaring bankruptcy, billion dollar bail outs and many friends and colleagues losing their jobs (this includes the long-running Sick As A Parrot column axed after eight seasons), Spanish superclub Real Madrid will pay Manchester United over $200 million for the contract of Cristiano Ronaldo.

I first saw Ronaldo play live early on in his Manchester United career. It was a midweek game against local rivals Liverpool in 2004. The game was supposed to be about United defender Rio Ferdinand's comeback after a drugs suspension but it was Ronaldo who made headlines.

I had press accreditation for the game but recall telling a colleague after the match I'd have happily left my professional credentials at the gate and paid money to see this new guy play again. He was going to be something special.

Several years later, having won everything there is to win with United, Ronaldo's move to Real Madrid has stirred controversy on every level.

First, like a courting couple who exhaust friends with their will-they-won't-they romance, Ronaldo and Real Madrid can finally, to use a metaphor, get a room. This saga was one of the longest-running in recent memory, not helped by Ronaldo's own public statements that changed direction more than he changed wings.

Secondly, we now know to take any statement from anyone involved at the top level of football as complete rubbish except, ironically, maybe Real Madrid.

The player claimed he'd not be leaving United at the end of last season before chipping in with some ambiguity after United's Champions League defeat to Barcelona. United manager Alex Ferguson countered Ronaldo would not be going anywhere, brilliantly claiming he would not sell Real Madid "a virus".

Real Madrid, at least reelected President Florentino Perez, has claimed all along that Ronaldo would be a Madrid player and this was confirmed earlier this year by a story that appeared in The Guardian that claimed an agreement was made last year that Ronaldo would be paid £30 million if Madrid did NOT sign him.

Hold on - what?

So it turns out that Ronaldo is the subject of the most-expensive deal ever between football clubs and that's before we even try to comprehend his personal starting salary estimated to be over $25 million a year, rising by 25% each subsequent year of his six-year deal. That roughly equals $2 million a month or $500,000 a week.

Excuse me if a few zeroes are missing or the math is not exact. The point is, it's a lot of money. Maybe it's the frugal times elsewhere but it's so much money I feel a little sick. For some perspective, around four weeks of Ronaldo's wage equals the entire season's salaries for an entire A-League club.

"These figures are simply beyond the understanding of most ordinary fans," said British Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe. "I am worried that a small group of rich clubs are getting richer and that does affect the balance and the opportunities for the wider game."

The Ronaldo transfer reminds me of a story told to me by my friend Andy Bernal, a former Socceroo who among other adventures, was David Beckham's minder when he, like Ronaldo, moved from Manchester United to Real Madrid.

When the Portuguese youngster was announced as Beckham's replacement at Old Trafford, wife Posh Spice sat in Madrid pawing newspapers analysing the new recruit.

Apparently, she was unimpressed.

"Nah," she said in her Essex-inspired whine. "He's not in our league, is he?"

She was wrong but sort of right.

Morally objectionable or not (and there's plenty more to suggest that there's something deeply wrong with what's occurring), the facts are that Ronaldo and Real Madrid are out of, not just Beckham's league, but our universe.

• by Matthew Hall at 06:03 AM
• Comments (3)

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Do The Socceroos Deserve More Respect?

By the time you read this, it's likely Australia will have qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

It's also likely, contrary to the efforts of Football Federation Australia's hardworking spin machine, to be one of the biggest anti-climaxes in our collective sports history.

In 2005, almost four years ago, Sydney caught alight from the electricity generated by John Aloisi's penalty kick.

Similarly, in 2001, Tony Vidmar's tears were shared by much of the country as Uruguay dismantled Frank Farina's Socceroos in Montevideo.

The mood that time was also clouded by the administration of the sport, a disaster area about to be condemned by the Federal Government.

Personally, I was so depressed I stayed in Buenos Aires for a week following that defeat, dreading returning to Sydney.

We won't mention 1997 and Iran. Nor 1993 and Alex Tobin's freak own goal against Argentina.

But Australia will qualify for 2010 in Doha with a point against lowly Qatar, a team that is only still in the competition thanks to a bureaucratic technicality after fielding an ineligible player in an earlier round.

There will be no fireworks, not much dancing in the street, and probably few people to meet the team at Sydney Airport when they arrive on Monday.

Coach Pim Verbeek has had enough and claims that his team deserves more respect for its achievement. Typically, this is the media's fault, which apparently has widely condemned the performances of his side.

"I work with the players, the players know what we are doing, the players know the plan, the players know the difficulties we are facing, (so) for the rest I'm not so interested," Verbeek said.

Australia's impressive results deserve acclaim, he added: "The [players] fly from Europe, they have nine hours time difference, they arrive one day before the Japan game, they have 74,000 people (in the crowd) and they have a 0-0 draw."

"Ninety-nine per cent of the countries in the world would say 'great result' but the Aussies have a different opinion.

"I can understand my players start to get a little bit annoyed about that because then they have to fly back (to Europe) and play in some of the toughest leagues in the world.

"I think a little bit more respect would have (been nice)."

Tim Cahill, staying on message, had similar gripes last week.

"I am sick of it, people who are criticising us in the situation we are in, purely because we are one point away from qualifying for the World Cup," said the Everton midfielder.

Maybe this siege mentality, the us-against-them, is part of Verbeek's psychological motivation for his team. Or perhaps some of the players are more detached from reality than we think.

Because here's the thing: there has been very little actual criticism of the players or the team's performances.

The Socceroos get a very soft ride from a largely uncritical (some might even suggest uneducated) Australian media.

If Verbeek or his players genuinely believe they're being sniped at, then they might want to play for England or Italy or Brazil or Argentina, where a feral national media has every pulse of their national team monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Why? Because in those countries, the national team belongs to the people, the nation. Not the coach or the players or team management or the Federation.

Here are the facts: Verbeek and his players have done a great job to be able to knock on South Africa's front door with games to spare.

Yes, they have created history to qualify for only the third time.

Team performances have been intelligent, tactically smart, and pretty pragmatic. Preparation for matches has been top rate.

Entertaining? For the hardcore, sometimes.

For the casual fan, the great unwashed, the "market" that carries the sport into the mainstream, never.

That's neither good nor bad. It just is.

But now, with the team in the box seat for qualification, Australian fans deserve as much respect, if not more, than the players themselves are asking for.

After all, it's their own money that paid for them to support the team around the world over years of heartache and their own tears that were shed over previous defeats.

The reason we might have a different opinion that other countries, Pim, is that we have a different history.

Verbeek may have replaced glorious failure with pragmatic success and for that we thank him for achieving what you were tasked to do.

But a little lighter on the sense of entitlement and, in this game, you don't get trophies just for showing up.

Or do you?

• by Matthew Hall at 07:18 AM
• Comments (8)